Self-sealing shingle



July 3, 1962 F. J. WENDT 3,042,193

SELF-SEALING SHINGLE Filed Feb. 13, 1958 2 Sheets'Sheet 1 %m% Wax/z y- Wi y 3, 1962 F. J. WENDT 3,042,193

SELF-SEALING SHINGLE Filed Feb. 13, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United StatesPatent i 3,042,193 SELF-SEALING SHINGLE Frank J. Wendt, Chicago, Ill.,assignor to United States Gypsum Company, Chicago, 111., a corporationof Illinois Filed Feb. 13, 1958, Ser. No. 715,129 5 Claims. (Cl. 206-60)This invention relates to self-sealing shingles which are normally laidin overlapping courses, and more particularly to means of packing themin bundles.

This invention concerns asphalt saturated and coated composition feltstrips, each having a head portion and a bottom or exposed portion whichis divided into sections or butt portions by vertical slots or cut-outs.The lifting of these butt portions by wind can cause both an unsightlyappearance and a breakdown of the weather protection of the roof sheetbecause of the access of moisture to the plies or layers underneath thebutt portions. Severe winds may even tear entire strips from the roof orside surface due to the lifting action of raised butt portions.

Many proposals have been made to counteract this difliculty. Among themost common are methods in which the butt portions are sealed to theunderlying surface. The generally accepted technique is to apply a spotof bituminous cement under each butt portion after the laying of thestrips. However, this is time consuming and costly due to the laborinvolved. To overcome the extra labor cost, attempts have been made toapply the adhesive at the time of manufacture, the adhesive beingapplied to the underside of the butt portions or to the underlying faceof the strip. This introduces a new problem to be overcome, i.e., how topack the strips into a bundle without causing them to permanently adhereto one another, and without destroying the self-sealing quality.Attempts to accomplish a satisfactory means of packaging have not beencompletely successful because of increases in packing and unpackingcosts which tend to vitiate any advantage over older methods of sealingthe butt portions on the job. In modern high-speed machine operations, adifiicult packing problem leads to markedly increased costs over thestandard practice of stacking the strips in a bundle.

Packing the strips in face-to-tace or back-to-back relation, especiallywhere the individual strips must be pulled apart, results in a definitedisadvantage to the applicator because of the necessary added effort toseparate the strips. Since this operation must be accomplished asapplication is being pursued, separation of the strip makes for aninefficient operation. This added step is also somewhat precariousbecause of the added motion involved due to the nature of the strips andthe roofers position on a roof or ladder. In addition, in some cases theshingles must not only be turned over but reversed end to end.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an improvedmeans of applying adhesive to the shingles in the factory which willgive a bonding of overlapping courses when applied to a roof.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved manner ofapplying adhesive to the shingles in the factory which will seal theshingles together when placed upon the roof, but which will not causeadhesion in the bundle.

It is a further object of'the invention to provide an improved type ofself-sealing shingle which not only does not require extra work upon thejob to break apart the shingles in the bundle, but also requires noturning over of certain of the shingles.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide 3,042,193Patented July 3, 1962 an improved sealing means which is adapted to theregular type bundle of shingles, thus permitting the regular roofingmachinery to be used without change and thereby resulting in no increasein the cost of bundling.

Various other objects will readily occour to those skilled in the art,of which this invention is a part.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be had tothe accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a view of the face orgranule side of a shingle according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a back view of the same shingle;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a bundle of the shingles shown in FIGS.1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a section of a roof laid from theself-sealing shingles forming the subject of this invention andillustrates how the shingles are applied without the necessity ofturning or reversing, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another form of bundle of the shinglesshown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawings, the objects of the invention are accomplishedby the application to shingles 10, preferably in the factory during themanufiacture thereof, of spots 11 of an adhesive of a character and in alocation so that when the shingles 10 are applied in succeedingoverlapping courses, the lower ends of the butt portions or butts 12 ofthe exposed portion of each shingle will adhere to the one below andhence resist the action of wind, rain and other weathering elements toraise the butts and thus penetrate or damage the covering.

In addition, a strip or lane 13 of an anti-sticking or nonadheringmaterial is also applied, preferably in the factory, to the surface ofthe shingle upon the opposite face from that containing the adhesive sothat when the sheets are packed, one above the other in either allfaceup or all face-down relation, the strip or spots of adhesive on eachshingle are in contact with the strip or spots of anti-adheringmaterial. In this way, none of the adhesive on one shingle will comeinto direct contact with another shingle while packed so that stickingof the shingles together in the bundle is avoided. As shown in FIG. 3,the face of the shingle 14 uppermost in the bundle containing theunprotected spots of adhesive is covered with a strip of wax paper 15,or the like.

When the shingles are unpacked and placed in succeeding overlappinglayers, the spots 11 of adhesive and the nonadhering layers are out ofregister and the adhesive on one shingle is permitted to come intocontact with the appropriate surface of the overlying butt portions, asshown in FIG. 4. The adhesive through the aid of solar radiation adheresto the surface of the shingle against which it comes into contact, andthe butt portions or butts are, therefore, sealed down. Adhesion may bedelayed for some time depending on the amount of radiation, but eventualscaling is assured if a proper type of sealing a compound is used, aswill be explained. Some of the nonadhering material may transfer to thestrip or spots of the cement. If the nonadhering layer is limited inthickness such that it will not flake off, the degree of such transferwill be small and will not permanently interfere with later bonding onthe roof.

Specifically, a good practice is to apply the laneof spots of cement oradhesive lengthwise astraddle the longitudinal center line of theshingle so that they are just above the tops of the exposed butts andjust above the bottom edges of the butts of the shingles appliedthereover in overlapping relation. It is, of course, not necessary thatthe row of self-sealing adhesive be applied along the center line aslong as it is located so that the lower portions of the butts of thenext upper row of shingles will be contacted by the adhesive.

The lane 13 of nonadhering material is placed on the back of the sheetalong the longitudinal center line of the sheet and is of such widththat the spots 11 of adhesive on the face of the adjacent shingle in thebundle will be completely covered. This allows the sheets to be laidface to back in the bundle without sticking. This is the usualarrangement and fits in well with production in the factory and alsowhen applied to the roof. As will be noted in FIGS. 3 and 4, theshingles need not be turned over nor reversed but are applied directlyfrom the bundle to the roof with a single sweeping motion.

The improvement in the self-sealing of asphalt shingles forming thesubject of this invention can readily be made upon the ordinary roofingmachine with only minor modifications. Both the adhesive and thenonadhering agents can be applied in a line parallel with the length ofthe strip as the shingles are being formed upon the asphalt roofingmachine. The sealing adhesive may be applied hot with a single rollapplicator to the top of the strip and it may be applied by other meanssuch as some type of flinge-r. The nonadhering agent may also be appliedin liquid form by an applicator situated underneath the strip or in tapeform, such as of cloth, paper or metal, from rolls and adhered to theshingle by any suitable adhesive. The shingles are cut and bundled, faceup, as shown in FIG. 3, without any alteration in the ordinary procedurewith the exception that an anti-sticking sheet 15 is applied over thesealing spots upon the top shingle only, see FIG. 3.

The sealing material is rendered tacky by the heat from the sun as theoverlapped shingles rest upon the roof, thus causing them to adhere. Thebest type of sealing adhesive is that made from bituminous or pitchlikesubstances for they may be tailored such that they are very tacky attemperatures attained upon exposure to solar radiation but areessentially not tacky at ordinary temperatures. A straight steam-refinedasphalt of 160- 190 F. softening point has been found to be satisfactoryas an adhesive, though blended asphalt or other bituminous compositionsmay be used.

The anti-sticking or nonadhering agent can be any of many waxes,Wax-polyethylene mixtures, metal stearates and other Well knownmaterials repellent to asphalt. It is understood that these substancescan be applied to the sheet in any of many ways, for example, as anemulsion, a hot-melt solution, or in tape form, such as aluminum foil.

In carrying out a preferred embodiment of this invention, ordinaryasphalt strip shingles with cut-outs 16 to form exposed butt portionsare used. These shingles are adapted to be laid in overlapping relation.During the manufacture of the shingles, spots of asphalt adhesive 11 areapplied along the center line of the face of the shingle, such as shownin FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. An asphalt having a 165 F. softening point has beenfound to be suitable though its properties may vary over a Wide rangedepending upon the climate in which the shingle is to be used, as wellas upon the degree of hardness desired at room temperature. To keep theadhesive from compressing unduly while the bundles are stacked duringstorage at high temperatures, the adhesive should be relatively hard asmeasured by the penetration at 115 F. A preferred location of the spotsis to place one near each end of the sheet and one on each side of thecut-outs. The spots must not be of such width that they will be exposedwhen the next overlying course of shingles is applied. The nonadheringmedium is likewise applied along the center line of the shingle but uponthe back face. This may be done simultaneously with the application ofthe sealing adhesive or at a different time. The nonadhering material ina preferred embodiment is applied as a continuous band but substantiallywider than the adhering spots so as to assure that none of the adhesivetouches the shingle while in the bundle. One form of nonadheringmaterial may be a thin coating of calcium stearate on an aluminum foil.

During application to a roof, the shingles are removed from the bundlewhich is tied with wire loops 17 passing around protective edge members18, for example, and are nailed to the roof framework 19 without anyadditional steps, as shown in FIG. 4. The shingles need not be reversedand/ or turned over as required by some other systems of sealingshingles forming the subject of the prior art. After the roof has beenapplied, the sealing spots become tacky during warm days and ultimatelyadhere the but-ts to the shingles below. The butts being so secured willnot blow up under severe wind conditions, thereby extending the life ofthe roof and preventing the formation of leaks.

While sealing spots 11 are shown, a single continuous lane of adhesivemay be used, if desired, and if sealing spots are used, cooperatingspots of nonadhering material may be used.

Asphalt wetting agent substances such as certain fatty acids havingappropriate melting points may also be used as nonadhering agents in thelayer 13 and will have the further advantage of assisting in the bondingof the as phalt adhesive to the shingle on the roof.

Stearic acid, palmitic acid, margaric acid and myristic acid areexamples of these substances, having melting points within the range ofabout F. to 160 P. which have been found satisfactory. Mixtures of suchacids as well as somewhat impure forms of such acids, so long as themelting point thereof is within the range indicated, may be used.

Asphalt strip shingles are made to withstand a temperature of 120 F. inthe storage warehouse and at this temperature or below the fatty acidsindicated will act as nonadhering agents similarly to waxes and willthus prevent bonding between shingles stacked together as described.After the shingles are applied to a roof, the temperature thereof risesabove the 120" F. limit to about 150 F. or higher and at the appropriatetemperature the particular fatty acid melts (stearic acidl57 F.,palmitic acid F., margaric acid-142 F. and myristic acid129 F.). Aftermelting, the fatty acid ceases to be a nonadhering agent and acts as awetting agent for asphalt, thereby enabling the asphalt adhesive to morereadily adhere to the adhering surface. In effect, a selectivenonadherence and adherence effectively are obtained.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be seen that when the shingles are packedin the mundle, the fatty acid layer in lane 13 will be in contact withthe adhesive spots 11. Some of the fatty acid now in its unmelted formrubs off onto the adhesive spots and continues to adhere thereto whenthe shingles are taken from the bundle in the act of applying them tothe roof. Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the spots ofadhesive 11 having thereon a thin film of fatty acid will at firstprevent the bonding of the butt portions 12 of the overlying shingle tothe adhesive spots 11 for the reason already stated. However, when thetemperature of the shingle rises due to solar radiation, the fatty acidfilm melts and wets the spot of asphalt adhesive 11 and thereby morereadily enables the adhesive to adhere to the under surface of the buttportions of the overlying shingle.

The fatty acid may also be applied to the surface 0 the adhesive spots11 as an alternative construction.

If found necessary, a layer of wax may be applied to the shingle firstin lane 13 and the layer of fatty acid applied thereover both in themanner described.

In FIG. 5, shingles 10 of the construction described, including the lane13 of nonadhering material, are packed, face down, in the carton 21according to one form of practice. Since the adhesive material, notshown in this figure, is on the underside of the shingles as packed, theadhesive material on the shingle on the bottom of the stack comes intocontact with the bottom of the carton and may, under some conditions,adhere thereto. To prevent this, a lane 22 of nonadhering material suchas described is applied to the bottom of the carton as shown in such aposition as to fully cover the lane or spots of adhesive material.

The carton 21 may extend substantially around the bundle of shingles asshown and the shingles and carton may be held together by wire loops 23,for example.

When shingles of nonuniform thickness, such as shingles having buttportions thicker than the head portions, are packed into bundles, it iscustomary to place a certain proportion of the shingles with their buttportions on the opposite side of the bundle, in order to have asubstantially uniformly thick bundle. This may be achieved by reversinga bunch of shingles end for end While leaving the shingles in the sameface-down or faceup relation as they were. Since the adhesive spots andthe nonadhering layers run substantially centrally of the shingles, therelationship of these elements in the bundle according to the inventionare maintained.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown, it willbe understood, of course, that the invention is not limited theretosince many modifications may be made, and it is, therefore, contemplatedby the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired tobe secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A bundle of self-sealing flexible shingles comprising strips ofWeather resistant flexible material having cutouts extending partiallyinwardly from an edge thereof to form butt portions, each shingle havinga face side and a back side, said shingles being adapted for applicationin overlapping relation to form a roof with the butt portions exposed,said shingles being characterized by a band of a sealing adhesiveextending lengthwise across the face side of each shingle at a distancefrom said edge at least as great as the width of the butt portion and aband of nonadhering material extending across and being attached to theback side thereof in superimposed relation with and of a Width at leastequal to that of said band of adhesive, said shingles being stacked incoinciding face to back relation whereby said band of adhesive upon theface of each shingle except the last shingle on the face side of saidbundle is contiguous to the nonadhering band upon the back of anadjacent shingle, a cover disposed over the exposed face side of thelast shingle in the bundle and presenting a nonadherent surface to theadhesive band on said last shingle, and including means for retainingsaid stacked shingles in a self-contained bundle.

2. A bundle of self-sealing flexible shingles comprising strips ofweather resistant flexible material having cutouts extending partiallyinwardly from an edge thereof to form butt portions, each shingle havinga face side and a back side, said shingles being adapted for applicationin overlapping relation to form a roof with the butt portions exposed,said shingles being characterized by a series of heat-softenableadhesive spots extending lengthwise across the face side of each shingleat a distance from said edge at least as great as the width of the buttportion and a band of nonadhering material extending across and beingattached to the back side thereof in superimposed relation with and of aWidth at least equal to that of said band of heat-softenable adhesivespots, said shingles being stacked in coinciding face to back relationwhereby said band of heat-softenable adhesive spots upon the face ofeach shingle except the last shingle on the face side of said bundle iscontiguous to the nonadhering band upon the back of an adjacent shingle,a cover disposed over the exposed face side of the last shingle in thebundle, and presenting a nonadherent surface to the adhesive band onsaid last shingle, and including means for retaining said stackedshingles in a self-contained bundle.

3. A bundle of self-sealing flexible shingles comprising strips ofWeather resistant flexible material having head portions and buttportions, each shingle having a face side and a back side, said shinglesbeing stacked in coinciding relation and all facing in the samedirection, a band of sealing adhesive extending lengthwise across theface side of each shingle within the head portion thereof adjacent thejuncture of said head portion and said butt portion, a cover disposedover the exposed face side of the last shingle on the face side of thebundle and presenting a nonadherent surface to the adhesive band on saidlast shingle, and a band of nonadhering material, of a width at leastequal to the width of the bands of sealing adhesive, contiguous to andcovering each of said bands of sealing adhesive on the other shingles ofsaid bundle, said bands of nonadhering material extending across andbeing attached to the back sides of the respective overlying shingles,and means for retaining said stacked shingles in a self-containedbundle.

4. A bundle of self-sealing shingles as in claim 3 and wherein each ofsaid bands of nonadhering material comprises a length of tape.

5. A bundle of self-sealing shingles as in claim 3 and wherein saidbundle includes a carton, and said cover comprises a part of saidcarton.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,150,455 Rudolph et al. Aug. 17, 1915 1,168,986 Whittemore Ian. 18,1916 1,460,833 Abraham July 3, 1923 2,173,989 Wilbur Sept. 26, 19392,210,209 Kirschbraun Aug. 6, 1940 2,300,488 Cuno Nov. 3, 1942 2,667,131Clarvoe et a1. Jan. 26, 1954 2,863,405 Leibrook et al. Dec. 9, 1958

